Epiphany:
Characters in Dubliners experience both great and small revelations in their everyday lives, moments that Joyce himself referred to as epiphanies. These epiphanies allow characters to better understand their particular circumstances, usually rife with tragedy and disappointment, which they then return to with resignation and frustration. In “Araby,” the allure of new love and distant places mingles with the familiarity of everyday drudgery, with frustrating consequences. When the narrator stands frustrated as the bazaar closes down, he realizes that Mangan’s sister will fail his expectations, and that his desire for her is actually only a vain wish for change. The narrator’s change of heart concludes the story on a moment of epiphany, but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love or realizing that he does not need gifts to express his feelings for Mangan’s sister, the narrator seems to have simply given up. He seems to interpret his arrival at the bazaar as it fades into darkness as a sign that his relationship with Mangan’s sister will also remain just a wishful idea and that his infatuation was as misguided as his fantasies about the bazaar.
Irony:
James Joyce uses irony in his stories to allow for a better read and to create interest and appeal at the end of his short stories. Used in conjunction with epiphany, irony conveys the ultimate realizations of the characters in an almost comical articulation. At the end of "Araby", the narrator is able to see the irony implicit in a view that can see the dream itself as a vanity. His plan to buy Mangan's sister a present in an attempt to win her love is simply futile, and it is ironic that he simply gives up at the end instead of continuing with his plan. With irony, the reader is presented with a twist, and is kept in anticipation with an ending that leaves "Araby" unfinished. The boy has his epiphany, but we never find out what happens to his plans or ambitions after the epiphany.
Imagery:
In the story "Araby", James Joyce uses imagery in order to help the reader understand some aspects of Dublin life.
A lot of auditory imagery in "Araby" helped to enhance the meaning of the story. The first is the description of the sound in the streets when the young man is walking by thinking of the girl he loves. He hears the "curses of laborers", the "shrill litanies of shop boys", and "nasal chantings of street singers". All of these images, besides just making the street seem busy, also make it seem like an unpleasant and intruding scene, almost like you would want to cover your ears and hurry through as fast as possible. This perfectly compliments the boy's imagination that he is "carrying his chalice safely through a throng of foes".
In the scene where the boy is in the priest's house late at night, the auditory imagery helps contribute to the sense of drama. "There was no sound in the house", but outside boy heard the rain "impinge upon the earth" with "fine incessant needles of water". The choice of words here makes the rain seem almost as if it is hostile. You can hear the force and fury of the storm, and this makes the emotions the boy is feeling seem even more intense.
Later, when the boy is looking out the window of the top story of his house, he looks down and sees his friends playing in the street, and their cries reach him "weakened and indistinct". This image brings about an impression that the boy now feels "removed" from his friends and their games, because he is caught up in his fantasy. Normally, he would probably be down there playing with them, but now his head is filled with much more pressing thoughts, and they drown out the laughter and fun of his friends' childish games.
Finally, when the boy enters the bazaar, he recognizes "a silence like that which pervades a church after a church service". This image makes the bazaar feel gloomy, like the boy doesn't really want to be there. It emphasizes the fact that he is late and has missed all the action. It also seems to introduce a shift in the boy's perspective. Often times, walking into a quiet place will put someone into a reflective mood. It seems as the boy enters the bazaar and notices this silence, the futility of his fantasy slowly begins to dawn on him.
Symbolism:
In "Araby" James Joyce makes use of symbolism in order to emphasize the characteristics of the characters and the environment. Use of symbolism in "Araby" helps the reader to visualize or undersand in better depth some of the important factors that affected Dublin back in the day. In the story, the young lad refers to foolish blood when he talks about himself and his quick casual words to Mangan's sister. Foolish blood symbolisizes the young narrator's immature nature and his attempts to start a formal conversation with Mangan's sister.
Joyce starts us off with an obvious religious symbol in the first line, “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free". (15) The street is quiet and calm except for when the boys are set free; set free from the eyes of the church and the eyes of parents. The street is “blind at one end” except for when the kids are free, and that’s why it is quiet. The kids are not blind of the “uninhabited house.”
The church is also symbolic in the story "Araby" because it represents the narrator's difficulty to speak to his friend's sister.The dead priest in the second paragraph of page 15 adds to the religious symbolism. The priest is an obvious symbol, but the description of the room where he died is more revealing, “Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless papers.” The priests old room smells like a jail cell. The air is a prisoner of the room. It smells like a stagnant and putrid smell.
The religious symbolism sets up the reader. In the next few paragraphs, Joyce discusses the narrator’s infatuation with his friend’s sister. The narrator does not understand his inability to talk to his friend’s sister, but the reader—because of the religious symbolism—has a greater understanding. We see his actions as part of his upbringing.
Epiphany:
Characters in Dubliners experience both great and small revelations in their everyday lives, moments that Joyce himself referred to as epiphanies. These epiphanies allow characters to better understand their particular circumstances, usually rife with tragedy and disappointment, which they then return to with resignation and frustration. In “Araby,” the allure of new love and distant places mingles with the familiarity of everyday drudgery, with frustrating consequences. When the narrator stands frustrated as the bazaar closes down, he realizes that Mangan’s sister will fail his expectations, and that his desire for her is actually only a vain wish for change. The narrator’s change of heart concludes the story on a moment of epiphany, but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love or realizing that he does not need gifts to express his feelings for Mangan’s sister, the narrator seems to have simply given up. He seems to interpret his arrival at the bazaar as it fades into darkness as a sign that his relationship with Mangan’s sister will also remain just a wishful idea and that his infatuation was as misguided as his fantasies about the bazaar.
Irony:
James Joyce uses irony in his stories to allow for a better read and to create interest and appeal at the end of his short stories. Used in conjunction with epiphany, irony conveys the ultimate realizations of the characters in an almost comical articulation. At the end of "Araby", the narrator is able to see the irony implicit in a view that can see the dream itself as a vanity. His plan to buy Mangan's sister a present in an attempt to win her love is simply futile, and it is ironic that he simply gives up at the end instead of continuing with his plan. With irony, the reader is presented with a twist, and is kept in anticipation with an ending that leaves "Araby" unfinished. The boy has his epiphany, but we never find out what happens to his plans or ambitions after the epiphany.
Imagery:
In the story "Araby", James Joyce uses imagery in order to help the reader understand some aspects of Dublin life.
A lot of auditory imagery in "Araby" helped to enhance the meaning of the story. The first is the description of the sound in the streets when the young man is walking by thinking of the girl he loves. He hears the "curses of laborers", the "shrill litanies of shop boys", and "nasal chantings of street singers". All of these images, besides just making the street seem busy, also make it seem like an unpleasant and intruding scene, almost like you would want to cover your ears and hurry through as fast as possible. This perfectly compliments the boy's imagination that he is "carrying his chalice safely through a throng of foes".
In the scene where the boy is in the priest's house late at night, the auditory imagery helps contribute to the sense of drama. "There was no sound in the house", but outside boy heard the rain "impinge upon the earth" with "fine incessant needles of water". The choice of words here makes the rain seem almost as if it is hostile. You can hear the force and fury of the storm, and this makes the emotions the boy is feeling seem even more intense.
Later, when the boy is looking out the window of the top story of his house, he looks down and sees his friends playing in the street, and their cries reach him "weakened and indistinct". This image brings about an impression that the boy now feels "removed" from his friends and their games, because he is caught up in his fantasy. Normally, he would probably be down there playing with them, but now his head is filled with much more pressing thoughts, and they drown out the laughter and fun of his friends' childish games.
Finally, when the boy enters the bazaar, he recognizes "a silence like that which pervades a church after a church service". This image makes the bazaar feel gloomy, like the boy doesn't really want to be there. It emphasizes the fact that he is late and has missed all the action. It also seems to introduce a shift in the boy's perspective. Often times, walking into a quiet place will put someone into a reflective mood. It seems as the boy enters the bazaar and notices this silence, the futility of his fantasy slowly begins to dawn on him.
Symbolism:
In "Araby" James Joyce makes use of symbolism in order to emphasize the characteristics of the characters and the environment. Use of symbolism in "Araby" helps the reader to visualize or undersand in better depth some of the important factors that affected Dublin back in the day. In the story, the young lad refers to foolish blood when he talks about himself and his quick casual words to Mangan's sister. Foolish blood symbolisizes the young narrator's immature nature and his attempts to start a formal conversation with Mangan's sister.
Joyce starts us off with an obvious religious symbol in the first line, “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free". (15) The street is quiet and calm except for when the boys are set free; set free from the eyes of the church and the eyes of parents. The street is “blind at one end” except for when the kids are free, and that’s why it is quiet. The kids are not blind of the “uninhabited house.”
The church is also symbolic in the story "Araby" because it represents the narrator's difficulty to speak to his friend's sister.The dead priest in the second paragraph of page 15 adds to the religious symbolism. The priest is an obvious symbol, but the description of the room where he died is more revealing, “Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless papers.” The priests old room smells like a jail cell. The air is a prisoner of the room. It smells like a stagnant and putrid smell.
The religious symbolism sets up the reader. In the next few paragraphs, Joyce discusses the narrator’s infatuation with his friend’s sister. The narrator does not understand his inability to talk to his friend’s sister, but the reader—because of the religious symbolism—has a greater understanding. We see his actions as part of his upbringing.
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Plot Characters Setting Theme Mood/ Theme Diction Perspective
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